Sisterhood or Female Bonding? Third-wave Feminism in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) and The Robber Bride (1993)

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to discuss Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) and The Robber Bride (1993) against the backdrop of the third wave of feminism. Mindful of the fact that Margaret Atwood has been ambivalent about being labelled a feminist writer, this chapter attempts to show that the third wave's voice in the feminist debate is often in unison with the Canadian author's stance on the notions of sisterhood and female bonding in the two novels. Moreover, Atwood’s vision of feminism as a part of a global struggle for human rights is in unison with the third-wave assumption that the movement is not only about women, but about “challenging all oppressions” (Moore 135). Among them third wavers enumerate sexism, racism, homophobia, but also the oppression done to nature. All these issues are of interest to Atwood and run through her fiction.